The wild webcam west: How hundreds of viewers watch in on Wyoming's Jackson Hole every weekend as the weird and wonderful hit the town in fancy dress, head to the rodeo and do press ups in the middle of the street

The internet is addicted to webcam footage from Wyoming's Jackson Hole - thanks to 66 well-placed cameras scattered across the Western town.  

From playful police to pooping horses, the livestreams have a little bit of everything - and have made the town the most live-streamed in the world. 

The streams also offer looks at the local wilderness to wildlife, and are the brainchild of a local state representative.

The unprecedented network of webcams was devised by Bob Strobel, who won a seat in Wyoming's House of Representatives this time last year.

A few years before, he came up with the idea to bring Jackson Hole to the rest of the world via voyeurism, and quickly went viral with a stream from the town's center.

Today, that stream is still going - joined by other cameras at Spring Creek Resort, Teton Village, and Hatchet Resort. They are now considered the centerpieces of the town's tourism, while also offering the opportunity for memes abound.

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'I thought it was fun. I thought it was cute,' the 47-year-old rep for Wyoming House of Representatives District 22 told Cowboy State Daily of his brainchild, which has ballooned into much more than an internet trend. 

'That whole craze with cops doing pushups and dabbing, people making memes,' he continued, citing some of the activity his cameras and thousands of others have seen over the past seven years.

'But new levels, new devils, right?'

While not entirely what he intended, the system of surveillance does have its use.   

With something as accessible as WiFi, anyone anywhere can tune in to one of nearly 70 hotspots in the Western town or places nearby, whether it be for the traffic situation downtown or a look at roads further north after a snowstorm storm.

The streams also offer a look at the town's unique - and often wacky - hijinx, with in-the-know citizens often waving and doing stunts for the camera, often to the amusement of those watching.

The perpetually crowded parking lot at Jackson Hole Airport is also an option to view, as well as local resorts where on can catch a glimpse of the night's rodeo or the traditional town square.

From the comfort of their homes, onlookers can also check the lift lines at the local ski resort, and of course the weather - this all at 30 frames per second, Strobel explained.

With this all available at the click of a mouse or a tap of a screen, it's no wonder it caught on within the community, but its popularity beyond that is perhaps the most interesting.  

At the cost of a couple hundred thousand dollars out of his own pocket, the project did not really take off until about two years in, in 2016, the CEO of See Jackson Hole recalled.

At that point, one feed - the popular Jackson Hole Town Square stream located on top of Pizzeria Calderal -  went 'viral,' after YouTube picked it up and recommended it to several of its 122 million daily users.

The result was a sudden internet story that surrounded the newfound popularity of the live video, despite the fact it showed not much happening.

Seemingly the joke itself, the internet ran with it, with users on forums like Reddit and 4chan posting links to the live feed, promising to travel to the town and do something in front of the camera.

Those posts got hundreds more watching the video, leading it to be recommended to more people on YouTube, thanks to algorithms that automatically promote content to users based on things like a sudden uptick in traffic.

Meme-worthy occurrences eventually ensued when members of the tight-knight community caught on - with one cop dancing for the camera and a veiled bride-to-be waiting for a green light twerking on the street's main intersection.

People cosplaying as pizza slices were also a thing, as well as police horses leaving  smelly offerings mid-intersection.

Such spectacles earned 2,000 viewers on one stream at a given time - and that year and ever since, viewers have hit the streams as if Strobel was handing out hotcakes.

As the craze continued for months on, thousands logged in for hours at a time to talk it up about the mundane things they'd see.

'Jaywalker!' one person typed as citizens hit the town and crossed the highly trafficked street.

'Nice hat,' another person sniped. 

'I'm here from Sweden. Where you watching from?' another asked.

Fads were also rife - including one that saw participants shout-type 'red truck' whenever a red vehicle went by by in the chat.

Whenever someone would near the square's characteristic arc, onlookers would coyly type 'feed the arch' - another way of saying walk under it.

According to the Jackson Hole FAQ, both practices began after a red truck rolled into one of the arches - one of several strange occurrences caught by Strobel's constant army of cameras.

Of this, Strobel on Sunday remarked: 'People love watching life unfold organically.'

The streams' popularity more than six years later suggests the longtime Jackson resident is right.

Today, the stream still regularly garners hundreds of viewers at any time, offering windows to the most well-traveled locales around town at any point during the week.

Viewership tends to spike during the weekends, while some simply tune in to their favorite sentry 24/7 as if it were a window in their home.

The stars of the still-popular production, though, as the at-times unknowing street-crossers, often ignorant that they're on camera but still subject to commentary. 

Others aware of the streams and their constant audience often wave, or hold signs and perform for the benefit of viewers.

Several, including the city's local police force, continue to take part in ongoing crazes like doing pushups in plain view of the cameras, while some less playful have criticized it as just a trend.

Strobel, however, said that while people have found joy in his project, its practical uses are still undeniable - and the exposure has only helped.

'When it simmered down and fell back to earth, I was grateful for what it did, not what it was,' he told the outlet as his work continues.

'The new reality of elevated exposure had its positives.'

Today, the system is one of the driving forces of the town of 10,000's tourism, where people all over the world tune in to watch Jackson residents and tourists cross the street, drive, and saunter through various watering holes and local fixtures.

A sense of familiarity by those who have never even been there is one of the other other unforeseen results.

Take it from 27-year-old Meaghan Hill, of Australia, who in Sept 2016 tweeted: 'Why can't I stop watching this livestream!?'

She added in the same post that she's never set foot in Wyoming.

As for Strobel, he told Cowboy State that for the past several months, he has been secretly working on 'something big' that will launch later this month. 

When asked, he would not elaborate. 

'I don't want to spoil it,' he teased, as thousand cotinue to tune into his streams and others like it a day. 'Some things,' he added, 'need to be left unsaid.'